Going up

Due to the underdeveloped economic environment at the time, these six-or-seven-story buildings are not equipped with elevators and instead only have stairs, with two or three small apartments ranging from 25 to 60 square meters on each floor.

"Although they are not as decorative as high-rise commercial residential buildings built during the 21 century, old buildings are still the best choice for the elderly for their low property management fee - less than 10 yuan per month, and convenient locations - usually surrounded by markets, shops and public transportation," Zhang said.

Additionally, due to the rapid economic development of today, soaring housing prices have deterred many of them from swapping or renting a relatively new apartment.

This has led to 70 percent of the residents' in Shanghai's 220,000 multistory residential buildings without elevators, being elderly, according to Zhang.

A 70-year-old woman surnamed Wang, said her physical condition is "too weak to climb up to her home on the sixth floor."

For those who can't afford moving to buildings with elevators, some have to be carried on the backs of others to go downstairs.

"We are eager to use a newly-built elevator," Wang said.

Noticing the difficulties faced by this group of people, in 2009 Beijing became the first city in the country to deal with the problem. According to statistics from the Bureau of Quality Supervision in Beijing, a total of 150,000 old six-story buildings currently require elevators and match the conditions needed for installation.

The capital city plans to launch more than 400 elevator installation projects and to finish no less than 200 this year. The city has also set the goal of adding more than 1,000 elevators in multistory buildings by 2020.

Many cities such as Tianjin, Chongqing and Wuhan have also devised related policies and guidelines to support elevator installation projects for old buildings in recent years.

Shanghai first issued guidelines for installing elevators in old multistory residential buildings in 2011. The guidelines outline items such as the conditions for installation, distribution of costs and fire safety.

However, despite the governmental support, these actions have not gone as smoothly as expected.

For example, it took nearly four years for Shanghai to install its first elevator in an old residential building.

The seven-story No 7 building of Nujiang Yuan, in the city's Putuo district, became the first of its kind to have an elevator installed in 2015.

Obstacles have proved real and hard to remove.